If you are ready to build your new SMS marketing campaign for the new year, here is your chance to make it one of the best. Social media reports and countless research studies across cultures have taught us that authenticity is the new hook to get people into your type of trend.

If you cannot be super-duper exquisite this year – whether it's SMS marketing or ad implementation – you will not be able to sell as well as before. That is because customers' mindset has grown, and so have their expectations.

According to recent statistics, more than 48 million people worldwide chose the SMS option for receiving marketing messages in the year 2020 alone, an increase of about 23% from 2016. So, brace yourselves because the era of text message marketing is still very much golden!

We're here to tell you how you can make the best of your SMS campaign with the help of a few exceptional examples and some seriously actionable tips.

5 classic SMS marketing examples to learn from

Check out these five great examples of how to go about designing impactful text message marketing campaigns. All you need is a professional SMS service and a creative mind.

The IKEA Style

One of the best methods to receive people's contact details is by adopting IKEA's SMS marketing example. This company asks for people's zip codes – as part of collecting important demographic information from its target audiences – and promises to send them the best deals. 

They also promise not to spam you and inform you beforehand that these special offers will all be included in four text messages sent throughout the month (one per week).

After this process, IKEA asks for your email address and adds your details to their contact list. Pretty easy and simple, and it works! Connecting SMS messages and email (casual and business) keeps people in a semi-comfortable zone of friendly acceptance with a subtle awareness of their purchasing mindset that could help you greatly in the long run. 

Let them work together to bring out the best in people (and your brand).

Your Local Therapist Model

However, keeping your SMS marketing messages promotional is not the only way in which you could hook customers into buying your products and services. Your Local Therapist Model features a combination of funny and friendly reminders and appointment confirmations, facts that help customers get the gist of what your company is all about.

Within this message, ensure you include the date and time of the next scheduled event (or their appointment details if necessary), the location, and the details for a channel through which they can contact you if needed. You should also leave them the option to cancel or postpone at any time, so ensure this is included in your copy. It is a good idea to send these text messages 24 hours prior to your event or their scheduled meeting.

This SMS marketing strategy establishes the brand as an approachable personality who is warm and welcoming, who wouldn't mind if the customer needed some space from them once in a while and who wants to know the customer better.

The Personalised News

As mentioned before, getting experimental and adventurous and thinking outside the box is one of the best methods to outrun your competition. Another successful strategy to stand out is the Personalised News method.

You start by addressing your customer by their first name (or even full name, depending on the nature of your business and their relationship to it), then add a link to your website or social media profile, or even WhatsApp or Skype (after providing your contact details). This way, recipients can contact your company directly and better understand your services. It's a fantastic yet subtle way to encourage highly personal one-on-one conversations between customers and the brands they love.

On top of that, you could offer numerous exclusive discounts with this strategy and have them click the link to claim those offers. This is a rather interesting way to keep your customers close and safe while treating them as friends and partners.

The Subway Links

Two of the best techniques that we have noticed within Subway's SMS marketing campaign are (1) they ask for your location info and (2) they offer a one-time discount, making customers feel special and convincing them to sign up.

An interactive interface is also indicated to be used in this context, such as “Reply Y for YES or N for NO.” After they are in, ask for customers' zip codes to further customise their experience – how else would you know where you stand in relation to your competition if you don't even know your clients' location?

After figuring their locations out and running some automated tests, think about how your discounts will be offered – what offers do you want to make and why? Are you trying to get people a one-time deal to encourage them to sign up, or do you want to work on the long-term psychological aspects?

You must choose a side and then make sure you stick to your strategy. In any case, be transparent with your target audience and tell them your intentions from the beginning.

The Straightforward Jack in the Box

Using SMS marketing to receive discounts and coupons and benefit from many other offers sounds like a great idea, right? Right – and it is. This is what the famous chain fast-food restaurant Jack in the Box uses every single day to attract (a) more traffic to their website and (b) more clients to their restaurant.

What they do is simple: they tell customers exactly what to expect right from the start. That way, clients will not be surprised if receiving texts from Jack in the Box, and the fast-food restaurant can do its job easily and smoothly. They include marketing tactics within their messages and constantly interact with their customers, which is what gets them going. However, honesty is what prevails here.

Other ways to make your SMS marketing campaigns memorable

A welcome message for new SMS subscribers

Every new subscriber who opts into your SMS marketing program should feel welcome in the community you have worked so hard to build. Sending a personalised text message with their name can work wonders and have them stick around for longer. Welcome texts can also include special promos for first-time customers to gently nudge them towards conversion.

Abandoned cart SMS messages

There are several reasons why a potential customer might add their favourite products to their shopping cart but not click that "Place Order" button. It's not necessarily your fault. They might need some time to reevaluate a big financial decision. Or they might want to ask a family member or friend for advice before confirming their order. A reminder text message can help you salvage the situation and help make up the customer's mind.

But make sure you don't sound like you're pressuring them into making this decision – it should come from within. The best you can do is drop a gentle reminder (and perhaps offer some incentive, like a limited-time single-use promo code to be applied on checkout, or free delivery!) to help that purchase go through.

Flash sale notifications

To make your SMS subscriber list feel special, you can hit them with a surprise sale – you can't go wrong with this one. Your text subscribers would be the first ones to find out about this sale via promotional SMS messages that you send before making a public announcement, giving them exclusive access to discounted prices and special deals before everyone else. This is sure to keep your followers subscribed and on their toes!

Conclusion

These SMS marketing examples are just some of the ideas that you could implement this year. You could also try designing your own strategy as you wish – that could also work and bring you numerous unique advantages. Make sure you stay on top of your marketing vision and get those profits popping!